---
updatedAt: 2025-06-05T21:07:32.000Z
agentTools:
  projectIndex: https://docs.securitytrails.com/llms.txt
---

# Authentication

So we know it's really you.

> 📘 Your API Key
>
> You can find your API key in the [SecurityTrails control panel](https://securitytrails.com/app/auth/login).

To authenticate requests to the SecurityTrails API you will need to include the API key in an HTTP header named `APIKEY`. For example, if your API key is *your\_api\_key*, using curl you would make a request like

```curl
curl --include \
     --header "APIKEY: your_api_key" \
  'https://api.securitytrails.com/v1/ping'
```

## Query-String method

If for some reason you cannot include HTTP headers in the request you can also provide the API key as a query parameter. Assuming your API key is *your\_api\_key* you would query our API like

```
https://api.securitytrails.com/v1/ping?apikey=your_api_key
```

> 🚧 Query-string method is not recommended
>
> Because query strings are often logged in clear-text we discourage you from using the query-string method to supply the apikey. Ensure that you are using `https`.